May 27, 2017

Apple is working on a processor devoted specifically to AI-related tasks, according to a person familiar with the matter. The chip, known internally as the Apple Neural Engine, would improve the way the company’s devices handle tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence — such as facial recognition and speech recognition.

This makes a lot of sense. The motion coprocessor (M-Series chip in current iPhones) is an example of Apple breaking out background tasks to a dedicated chip. It can then tweak the single purpose hardware for power efficiency and squeeze every ounce of performance from the single purpose chip.